EDF Renewables and Nature welcomes environmental benefits of solar farm

The partnership – the first in what EDF Renewables UK expects to be a long-term research programme – will investigate the impact that large-scale solar farms could have on soil health, fauna, wildlife habitats and carbon flows under and around the panels. An experimental area of ​​around 50ha on the site will allow researchers to test different management systems and compare areas of solar panels with undeveloped agricultural land, providing evidence of the potential of land under solar farms to generate net benefits for biodiversity, carbon and soil quality.

The research findings will inform green initiatives at Longfield Solar Farm – a new solar farm with battery storage in Essex that will be able to provide enough clean, safe energy to power up to 96,000 homes a year. Construction on its main site is expected to start next year, with some early work already underway on site – including more than six acres of advanced planting of new trees and hedges.

Matthew Boulton, Director of Solar, Storage and Private Cables at EDF Renewables UK, said: “This research is key to our commitment to balancing renewable energy generation with protecting our important green spaces and we are excited to be working with the University of Exeter to achieve this. Having robust data will be invaluable in measuring the proven and tested biodiversity improvements we are already making, as well as helping us make future decisions to maximise biodiversity improvements at each of our solar farms.”

Jon Bennie, Director of Education and Student Experience at Exeter University, added: “If managed appropriately, solar farms offer significant opportunities to provide habitats for wildlife, increase biodiversity and maintain healthy soils and ecosystems. This long-term piece of research will allow us to investigate the potential benefits and challenges of building and operating solar farms, helping to inform management decisions to maximise these environmental benefits and minimise potential risks.”

Mark Lang of Nature Positive commented: “While solar farms have become increasingly important in meeting domestic demand for renewable energy, the potential benefits they can bring in terms of improving biodiversity and providing other ecosystem services have been poorly understood. We hope that this research will contribute to a collective understanding of how solar farms can be effectively managed to enhance biodiversity, influencing current best practice in the rapidly evolving solar industry.”

The research program is scheduled to begin later this year, over a six-year period, so part-time PhD students can take measurements before, during and after development. The results will join a growing body of research highlighting the potential ecological benefits of solar farms, informing industry best practices for managing solar farms to maximize biodiversity improvements.

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Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/solar/15072024/edf-renewables-and-nature-positive-to-consider-environmental-benefits-of-solar-farm/